Definition

A unique and persistent identifier for each office or unit at Dalhousie University. 

Introduction

The University Archives assigns unique and persistent Office IDs to each office or unit at the University. The IDs are generated by the University Archives and assigned to offices when signing authorities are approved. The Archives maintains Office IDs in the archival authority records (ISAAR 5.1.6 Identifiers for corporate bodies). 

The Office ID serve several purposes:

• The Office ID is used in signing authorities, disposition authorization forms, and other documents produced in the course of records management activities. 
  
  
• The Office ID is used to support the transfer of electronic records to the University Archives. 
  
  
• The Office ID is used as the Producer Source ID, which helps identify the origin of SIPs sent to the Archives. 

• Identifiers conform to basic guidelines prescribed in ISO 15511 International Standard Identifier for Libraries and Related Organizations.
  
  
  1. Alphanumeric code with a maximum of 16 characters
     
     
  2. Valid symbols are A-Z, 0-9, solidus, hyphen-minus, and colon

Conventions for creating Office IDs

The University Archives creates unique and persistent Office IDs for offices using the following conventions:

1. The first sub-unit of the identifier is the ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code for Canada (CAN), followed by a hyphen.
   
   
2. The second sub-unit of the identifier is the Canadian Library Symbol for the Killam Memorial Library (NSHD), followed by a solidus.
   
   
3. The third sub-unit of the identifier is a four-digit numerical code to uniquely identify each faculty or high-level unit. Refer to the following list of approved four-digit codes. This sub-unit is followed by a hyphen only if the identifier includes a fourth sub-unit. 
   
   
4. The fourth sub-unit of the identifier is a two-digit code to uniquely identify each department or business area within the faculty or unit.

Four-digit codes for faculties or high-level units

The following four-digit codes are derived from an organizational chart of the University created in 2017.

Example Office IDs

The following table provides some sample Office IDs

Related terms

Archival authority record

DalCLASS

Office of Primary Responsibility

Office of Secondary Responsibility

Producer

Producer Source ID